Korea Zinc shareholders line up to enter the venue of an extraordinary shareholders' meeting held at Grand Hyatt Seoul, Jan. 23, 2025. Joint Press Corps
Young Poong and MBK Partners, the largest shareholder alliance in Korea Zinc, rejected claims Sunday that they have changed their stance ahead of the zinc smelter’s upcoming shareholders’ meeting.
The alliance said its stance has remained unchanged, pushing back against criticism from Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom’s camp that it is trying to revive proposals it previously opposed and even challenged in courts.
The alliance has been locked in a management control battle with Choi since launching a tender offer on Sept. 13, 2024.
“The extraordinary shareholders’ meeting held in January 2025 was not conducted under normal circumstances, as Korea Zinc created an unlawful cross-shareholding structure shortly before the meeting, effectively stripping Young Poong, the largest shareholder, of its voting rights and disrupting the proceedings,” the alliance argued.
It said courts later ruled that the restriction on voting rights was illegal and ordered the suspension of several resolutions adopted at the meeting. Both the district and appellate courts recognized the illegality of the move, and the case is now awaiting a final decision from the Supreme Court.
The alliance explained that this situation forced it to oppose most of the proposals at the time, as supporting measures such as a stock split or the adoption of an executive officer system could have been interpreted as accepting the validity of the disputed voting restriction.
Young Poong and MBK said their decision to submit similar proposals again at this year’s shareholders’ meeting is intended to allow shareholders to express their views through a fair and legitimate process. They argued that portraying the move as a reversal of their earlier stance distorts the issue.
In particular, the alliance highlighted that it has consistently supported the stock split and the introduction of an executive officer system, describing both as governance reforms aimed at enhancing corporate value and restoring the proper functioning of the board.
It also dismissed the argument by Korea Zinc’s current management that a stock split would face practical hurdles even if approved again because of the court injunction.
Source: Korea Times News
